Panic device for a door

ABSTRACT

A pivotally mounted bar is mounted on the inside of a locked door. Upon pivotal movement of the bar toward the door a cam member is pivoted to raise a lock bolt to unlock the door without the use of a key. The door can be unlocked from the other side by means of pulling on a handle and thereby pivoting a cam member to raise the lock bolt. A lock means is provided to render inoperable the handle portion of the device.

United States Patent [191 Horgan, Jr.

[11] 3,765,198 1 Oct. 16,1973

[ PANIC DEVICE FOR A DOOR [75] Inventor: William .1. Horgan, Jr., Pittsburgh,

[73] Assignee: Blumcraft of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,

[22] Filed: Dec. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 211,002

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 97,102, Dec. 11, 1970, Pat. No. 3,696,648, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 86,863, Nov. 4, 1970, Pat. No. 3,670,537.

[52] US. Cl 70/92, 70/153, 70/464,

6/1935 Hurd 70/92 2,910,857 11/1959 Muessel 70/92 874,793 12/1907 Robinson 1,568,135 l/l926 Carroll 1,441,336 l/1923 Flowers 2,895,322 7/1959 Pollock 70/153 Prir nary ExaminerAlbert G. Craig, Jr. Attorney-Henry N. Paul et a1.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT A pivotally mounted bar is mounted on the inside of a locked door. Upon pivotal movement of the bar toward the door a cam member is pivoted to raise a' lock bolt to unlock the door without the use of a key. The door can be unlocked from the other side by means of pulling on a handle and thereby pivoting a cam member to raise the lock bolt. A lock means is provided to render inoperable the handle portion of the device.

3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures United States Patent Horgan, Jr.

[ Oct. 16, 1973 PAIENTEDU SHEET 1 3.765.198

PATENTEB [1U 8 i873 SHEET 2 0F 3 illilllill!!! will.

"PANIC DEVICE FOR A DOOR CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Although specific forms of the invention have been This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior selected for illustration in the drawings, and the follow copending applications Ser. No. 97, 102 filed Dec. 1 I,

1970, now US. Pat. No. 3,696,648 issued Oct. 10, 1972, and Ser. No. 86,863, filed Nov. 4, I970, now

US. Pat. No. 3,670,537 issued June 20, 1972, and discloses andclaims, in part, the subject matter disclosed and claimed in those prior applications and the applications cross referenced therein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device, known as panic de vice, for use on the inside of a door on a fire escape in public buildings and the like, to allow people quickly to unlock and open the door from the inside without a key.

Panic devices are known inthe art and are used to actuate lateral and vertical'lock bolts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention comprises abar actuated panic device which, in its-preferred embodiment, has a plurality of pivoted cam levers for raising the vertically mounted lock bolt of a locked door from. either side. One such lever is provided for each side of the door without-the need for further parts. The levers act independently of one another. Lock means are provided for inactivating the lever on the outside ofthe door.

Accordingly, its an object of this invention to provide a new and novel panic mechanism of the type described This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description with a refer ence to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation of a panic device in accordance with the present embodiment of my invention shown mounted on a door which is partially broken away and depicted from the inside of a building shown by way of shading around the outer portion of the frame wherein the door is mounted;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 2-2 in FIG. 1 showing the panic device and door partially broken away and foreshorten and showing a portion of the surrounding structure for purposes of illustrating the environment;

FIG. 3 is a section similar to a portion of the section shown in FIG. 2 showing certain parts of the device in alternate positions with certain of the detailed parts removed for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 4 is another section similar to a portion of FIG. 2 showing several of the parts in alternate positions with details eliminated for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken as indicated by lines and arrows 55 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 shows several of the parts shown in FIG. 5 in alternate positions; the phantom lines being used for the sake of clarity;

FIG. 7 is a section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 77 in FIG. 2 with several of the parts shown partially broken away; and

FIG. 8 is a section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 8-8 in FIG. 2.

ing description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose of describing these forms of the invention, this description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows a panic device designated generally 10 mounted on a door 12 in association with a lock mechanism; the housing of which is designated generally 14. The door 12 is supported for pivotally movement in the doorway 16 of the building. The panic mechanism 10 is generally located on the inside of the door, so that when the door is locked and when one wishes to leave the building from the inside, one merely pushes down on the panic device and this releases the lock so that the door swings outwardly.

The lock mechanism in accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention is of the vertical bolt type, which has a bolt which is movable vertically within a housing and can be extended from the housing into the surrounding structure to lock the door and can be withdrawn from the surrounding structure into the housing so that the door can be swung open. Several similar type vertical mechanism are shown in my prior copending applications.

In this embodiment the housing supporting the lock bolt and lock mechanism is of the type designed to operate from a lock cylinder in what I described as the flush mounted condition, that is, the cylinder 230 FIG. 2 is disposed with its axis passing through the plane of the face of the door (and preferably perpendicular thereto) so that the lock tab 232 at the end of the cylinder in the lock mechanism is in a plane which is substantially parallel to the face of the door. The handle 200 (shown in FIG. 2) serves to operate the lock bolt mechanism from the outside of the door and the key actuated lock cylinder is used only to prevent the handle from functioning.

On the inside of the door, the lock bolt is operated by the panic bar 26. The half height lock housing 14 is similar to that shown in my previous applications and, in this embodiment, has a single lock bolt mechanism terminating in a lock bolt at the bottom. It is within the I scope of this invention to use full height hardware with bolts at both the top and the bottom. The housing is connected to the door in any suitable manner (not shown). The housing comprises a rigid U-shaped channel member 21 FIG. 8 which is interfitted with a cover 23. Contained within the housingis a cam lever actuated slide bolt assembly which will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

The slide bolt assembly comprises a locking slide assembly designated generally 30 FIG. 5 comprising'a slide 31, a cylindrical bearing 32 made of a suitable bearing material and supported to rotate about a pin 33 FIG. 2, and rotatable slide support bearings 34 FIG. 5 mounted on pins 35. The entire locking slide assembly 30 is designed to move in relatively free sliding fit in the channel formed by the members 21 and 23 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5. This locking slide assembly 30 supports the bolt assembly by means of a rod 36 which is connected to the locking slide assembly by a pin 37 FIG. 2 and extends downwardly to terminate in a paddle-shaped portion 38 FIG. 5 fixedly connected thereto by the pins 39. The paddle-shaped portion 38 has an elongated slot 40 therein.

The bolt assembly designated generally 42 comprises a bolt 44 which is supported on rotatable bearings 46 mounted on pins 48 to slide within the housing in much the same manner as the locking slide assembly 30. The lower end of the bolt terminates in a roller 50 mounted on a pin 52 and this portion of the mechanism functions in such the same manner as that disclosed in my previous applications.

The bolt 44 is suspended from the rod 36 by means of a pin 54 in fixed engagement with a bolt and disposed in sliding engagement in the hole 40. The function of this arrangement will be described in connection with the jimmy proof portion of the invention.

The jimmy proof mechanism comprises a retainer block 60 which is fixally mounted in a housing and has mounted therein rotatable bearing 62 on pin 64 for engagement with the side of the rod 36 as shown in FIG. 5. On the other side of the rod a similar rotatable bearing 66 is mounted on pin 68 in sliding engagement with the rod 36. The pin 68 is disposed on a latch 70 which is pivotally mounted about a pin 72 fixed in the retainer block 60. A spring 74 is mounted in any suitable fashion as shown to urge the latch 70 toward the rod 36 and thereby maintain the bearing 66 in engagement with the rod as well as force the rod 36 against the bearing 62. The latch 70 extends beyond the bearing 66 in a finger-like extension 80.

As will be observed from FIG. when the bolt is in its extended position so that it extends into the frame surrounding the door, the latch 70 is urged by the spring 74 to a position wherein the finger 80 would interfere with the upward movement of the bolt 44; such movement being provided by, for example, a tool applied to the bottom portion of the bolt in an effort to force it upwardly. The bolt can move a short distance because the pin 54 is slideable in the slot 40. However, the rod 36 will not be moved. Thus the device is jimmy proof.

If, however, the mechanism (to be described more fully hereinafter) was approximately actuated from the top in order to move theslide assembly 30 upwardly and thereby pull the rod 36 upwardly, the cam surface 82 would cause the bearing 66 to pivot the latch 70 outwardly in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 5 and 6 so that the extension 80 would no longer interfere with the top of the bolt 44 and the bolt would be raised from the position shown in phantom in FIG. 6 to the position shown in full lines therein. During this path of travel, the bolt is acted upon by gravity, so that the pin 54 is in the bottom of the slot 40.

In order to actuate the slide assembly 30 I have provided independently actuated cam levers. One lever is actuated by the panic bar. The push bar 26 is fixedly mounted at both ends to pivotally mounted supports 27 and 27' FIG. 1. The one on the right 27' shown in FIG. 1, is mounted to a block 29 affixed to the door; while the one on the left 27 is integrated with the housing in the manner to be described. Referring now more particularly to FIG. 2 and 3, it will be noted that the member 27 is pivotally mounted about the pin 90 in the retainer 92 which is affixed to the housing. The member 27 is urged outwardly away from the door, so that it pivots in a counterclockwise direction when viewed in FIG. 2, by the spring 94 which is partially disposed in a hole in a retainer 92 and in a hole in the member 27 as clearly illustrated FIG. 2. The upper end of the member 27 engages the retainer 92, as shown, in order to prevent counterclockwise rotation beyond the limits of that illustrated in the figure. It will be noted, however,

that the member 27 can be pivoted toward the door.

about the pin from the position shown in FIG. 2 to, for example, the position shown in FIG. 3.

The cam lever 96 is pivotally mounted about a pin 98 which is fixed in the retainer 92. At one end of the lever 96 a rotatable bearing follower 100 is provided mounted on pin 102 and normally in engagement with the inner bearing surface 104 FIG. 2 of the member 27. The other end of the lever has a bifurcated extension 106 FIG. 8. This fork-shaped extension lies below the bearing 32 and is in sliding engagement therewith, so that the bearing 32 acts as a follower on the upper surface of the fork-shaped extension when the lever 96 is rotated from, for example, the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 3. This action causes the slide assembly 30 to move upwardly within the housing thereby withdrawing the bolt from its position in the surrounding door frame and retracting it within the housing.

Therefore, it will be appreciated that when one, approaching the door and seeking to unlock it and swing it open from the inside, pushes on the bar at 26 urging it toward the door, the bar 26 will rotate downwardly toward the door and the member 27 will pivot toward the door in a downward clockwise motion, thereby moving the bearing 100 in a clockwise direction about the pivot 98 and moving the extension 106 in a clockwise direction about the pivot 98, thereby forcing. the bearing 32 and the assembly 30 to move vertically upwardly in the housing, as previously described. All in one action, the bolt is removed from its locking position in the frame and the door is swung open.

The description setforth above covers ajimmy proof panic device operable from the side of the door upon which the panic device is mounted. Means for retaining the bolt in its retracted position while the door remains open are known in the art and will not be described herein.

It's desirable to provide means to operate the device from the outside as well. Its further desirable to be able to lock the door from the outside so that the outside actuating means can not be used, but at the same time allow use of the panic device. I shall now describe the portion of my invention which accomplishes these desirable ends. In particular referring to FIGS. 2, 4, and 8, the handle 200 is pivotally mounted at its upper end on the pin 202 to the outside of the door 12. If the handle is grasped and pulled it will pivot in a clockwise direction about the pin 202 when viewed as in FIG. 2. The door is cut out so that the lower portion 204 of the handle passes through the door and abuts the rear of the lock housing. A cam lever 206 is provided mounted for rotation about the pin 208 which is fixally attached to the housing assembly designated generally 210 which is mounted to the outside of the door. One end of the lever 206 has an elongated slot 212 therein which embraces in a sliding fit the pin 214 which is fixally mounted in the lower portion 204 of the handle. Thus when the handle is pivoted clockwise the lever 206 is pivoted counterclockwise about the pin 208 (as can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 2 and 4; FIG. 4 showing the handle and lever arm in the pivoted position). Another portion of the lever 206 comprises an extension 216 which extends into the-lock bolt housing and is positioned so that it is embraced by the forkshapedportion 106 as shown in FIG. '8 and further so that it is below the bearing 32 whereby the bearing acts as a follower on the upper surface of the extension 216 in much the same manner as the bearing acted as a follower on the upper surface of the portion 106. Thus when the handle is moved from the position as shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 4 the lever 206 is.pivoted as aforesaid and the extension 216 pivots counterclockwise to lift the lock bolt assembly 30.

It will be apparent from what has been described thus far that the operation of the handle allows one on the outside of the door to raise the lock boltinto the housing and thereby swing the door open. Note that the panic device is uneffected by this operation. Upon release of the handle the spring 220 which is braced against the inner side of the housing 210 exerts a force against the member 206, as clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, to force the lever 206 to pivot about the pin 208 in a clockwise direction and return the handle to the position shown in FIG. 2..To prevent the actuation of the lever 206 I have provided a lock cylinder and associated slide mechanism which, upon appropriate actuation of the lock, moves into inferring relationship with the lever 206. Referring-to FIGS. 2, 3 and 7, the lock cylinder 230 is positioned in a flush mounted condition wherein the tab 232 lies in a plane which is substantially parallel to the plane of the face of the door upon which the handle is mounted. Note that the section line 7-7 in FIG. 2 passes through the tab 232 so that the tab is shown in section in FIG. 7 as itwould appear as the slot 238 when the mechanism is in the position shown in FIG. 2. Thus if the slide 234 were raised from the position shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 7, the tab 240 would be-raised and eventually as it reached the upper limits of its travel in the slot 238 would enter the notch 242. Therein it would be in interfe rring relation with I the pivotal movement of the lever 206 about the pin In order to raise the slide 234 the tab 232 is rotated by means of the key in the lock cylinder 230 and as it rotates in a clockwise direction (when viewed as in FIG. 7) it will ultimately engage the tab 244 which extends laterally from the slide 234, and then as the tab 232 continues to rotate it will force the slide 234 upwardly in the housing and the guide 236. In order to retain the slide in either the upper or lower of its two predetermined positions, I have provided a hole 246 in the guide 236, which hole retains a spring 248 and a ball 250. The spring 248 is under compression and tends to force the ball out ofthe hole. A plurality of notches 252 and 254 are provided in the surface of the slide 234 adjacent to the hole, so that, as the ball tends to exit from the hole it partially enters one of the notches 252,254. The spring force perameters are such that the vertical force exerted on the slide 234 by the tab 232 will cause the ball to be forced back into the hole against the action of the spring 248, but at the same time it will be appreciated that if no such force is. applied, the slide 234 will remain in either the up or down position depending on which notch the ball is in.

In the position shown in FIG. 7, the ball is in the notch 252 and this retains the slide in the down position wherein the handle 200 is unlocked. If the tab 232 were to raise the slide 234 to the locking position, the ball 250 would be in the notch 254 and would retain the slide 234 in that position. In order to remove the slide from its interferring relationship with the lever 206, the tab 232 can be rotated in a counterclockwise direction when viewed as in FIG. 7 until it engages the tab 256,

.and as it continues in its counterclockwise rotation it will force the slide 234 vertically downwardly until the ball 250 rest in the notch 252 as shown in FIG. 7.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangement of parts which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

It will further be understood that the Abstract of the Disclosure set forth above is intended to provide a non-legal technical statement of the contents ofthe disclosure in compliance with the Rules of Practice of the United States Patent Office, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention described and claimed herein.

What is claimed is:

l. A panic device, comprising:

a. a push bar attached to support arms pivotally mounted at points offset from said bar;

b. locking bolt means comprising at least one lock bolt connected to a slide assembly slideably mounted within said device for extending or retracting said lock bolt with respect to said device;

0. actuating means for moving said locking bolt means in response to pivotal movement of said bar to effect said retraction, said actuating means comprising a pivotally mounted cam lever positioned for engagement along a first portion thereof by one of said arms and along a second portion thereof with a follower on said locking bolt means so that when said arm is pivoted toward said locking bolt means, said first portion of said actuating means will act as a cam follower on said arm and pivot said lever whereby said second portion will cam said follower on said locking bolt means upwardly and cause said lock bolt to retract with respect to said device; and

d. a means for actuating said locking bolt means in response to movement of a handle when said push bar is positioned on one side of a door and said handle is positioned on the opposite side of a door, comprising: a handle pivotally mounted at one end and having the other end pin connected to a second cam lever; said second cam lever being pivotally mounted and having an elongated slot slideably engaged with said pin on said handle in a first portion thereof, and having a second portion thereof extending into said device for engagement with said follower on said locking bolt means, so that when said handle is pivoted outwardly away from said door and said locking bolt means, said firstportion of said second cam lever will cause said second cam lever to pivot whereby said second portion of said second cam lever will cam said follower on said locking bolt means upwardly and cause said lock bolt to retract with respect to said device.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein interferring means is provided to inhibit the pivotal movement of said second cam lever and thereby prevent it from actuating so as to retract the lock bolt as aforesaid, comprising: a lock cylinder having a locking tab pivotal in response to rotation of a key in the lock cylinder; a slide having a plurality of tabs extending therefrom and being mounted to move vertically in a housing on the same side of the door as said handle; said housing retaining said second cam lever; one of said tabs extending transversely from said slide; said second cam lever having a slot therein to accept said transversely extending tab and thereby prevent said second cam lever from rotating and actuating said locking bolt means; the remaining tabs of said slide being positioned so that when the tab on said lock cylinder is rotated in one direction it will engage one of said tabs to raise said slide and insert said transversely extending tab into said notch and in the event that the tab on the lock cylinder is rotated in the opposite direction it will engage the other tab on the slide and force the slide downwardly thereby withdrawing the transversely extending tab from the notch.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein retention means are provided to retain said slide in either of two predetermined positions upon appropriate movement of said slide by said tab on said lock cylinder as aforesaid, said retention means comprising: a spring loaded ball mounted in said housing; and a plurality of notches in said slide for engagement with said ball to retain said slide in either its interferring position with said notch or its non-interferring position. 

1. A panic device, comprising: a. a push bar attached to support arms pivotally mounted at points offset from said bar; b. locking bolt means comprising at least one lock bolt connected to a slide assembly slideably mounted within said device for extending or retracting said lock bolt with respect to sAid device; c. actuating means for moving said locking bolt means in response to pivotal movement of said bar to effect said retraction, said actuating means comprising a pivotally mounted cam lever positioned for engagement along a first portion thereof by one of said arms and along a second portion thereof with a follower on said locking bolt means so that when said arm is pivoted toward said locking bolt means, said first portion of said actuating means will act as a cam follower on said arm and pivot said lever whereby said second portion will cam said follower on said locking bolt means upwardly and cause said lock bolt to retract with respect to said device; and d. a means for actuating said locking bolt means in response to movement of a handle when said push bar is positioned on one side of a door and said handle is positioned on the opposite side of a door, comprising: a handle pivotally mounted at one end and having the other end pin connected to a second cam lever; said second cam lever being pivotally mounted and having an elongated slot slideably engaged with said pin on said handle in a first portion thereof, and having a second portion thereof extending into said device for engagement with said follower on said locking bolt means, so that when said handle is pivoted outwardly away from said door and said locking bolt means, said first portion of said second cam lever will cause said second cam lever to pivot whereby said second portion of said second cam lever will cam said follower on said locking bolt means upwardly and cause said lock bolt to retract with respect to said device.
 2. The invention of claim 1 wherein interferring means is provided to inhibit the pivotal movement of said second cam lever and thereby prevent it from actuating so as to retract the lock bolt as aforesaid, comprising: a lock cylinder having a locking tab pivotal in response to rotation of a key in the lock cylinder; a slide having a plurality of tabs extending therefrom and being mounted to move vertically in a housing on the same side of the door as said handle; said housing retaining said second cam lever; one of said tabs extending transversely from said slide; said second cam lever having a slot therein to accept said transversely extending tab and thereby prevent said second cam lever from rotating and actuating said locking bolt means; the remaining tabs of said slide being positioned so that when the tab on said lock cylinder is rotated in one direction it will engage one of said tabs to raise said slide and insert said transversely extending tab into said notch and in the event that the tab on the lock cylinder is rotated in the opposite direction it will engage the other tab on the slide and force the slide downwardly thereby withdrawing the transversely extending tab from the notch.
 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein retention means are provided to retain said slide in either of two predetermined positions upon appropriate movement of said slide by said tab on said lock cylinder as aforesaid, said retention means comprising: a spring loaded ball mounted in said housing; and a plurality of notches in said slide for engagement with said ball to retain said slide in either its interferring position with said notch or its non-interferring position. 